It was the ever-popular Who Dares Wins (1996 – 1998) which opened up doors for Tania Zaetta to have a run of Bollywood movies.
Zaetta featured in 4 Bollywood movies, Bunty Aur Babli (2005), Salaam Namaste (2005), Dil Apna Punjabi (2006) and Mr. White Mr. Black (2008).
Speaking recently to 6PR, she said it was the worldwide success of the Seven show, alongside Mike Whitney, which led to opportunities in India.
“It was actually ESPN, the network out of America, that wanted to start a new channel called AXN. They bought Who Dares Wins and put it on. I think they couldn’t afford anything else at the time, because they put Who Dares Wins on in 80 countries, 11 times a day! It was on every second hour,” she said.
“There was only two shows at the time that were English-speaking shows that were on in India. One was Baywatch, which I then ended up doing, and one was Who Dares Wins. So the Indians just grew up with it.
Whitney and Zaetta became so popular their hotel was besieged by thousands of Indian fans.
Her first film was alongside superstar Abhishek Bachchan, part of the cinema-famed Bachchan family, in Bunty Aur Babli (2005).
“I was pinching myself. My first Bollywood scene ever, and I’m in a sari with an elephant and the most popular, famous man ever at the Taj Mahal. You’re trying to work and even the film crew are so star struck by this man that they can’t actually work. The director’s calling ‘Action’, and everyone’s just staring at this man!” she recalled.
Dividing her time between the UK and India, Zaetta found some of the most basic tasks as a single woman were challenging.
“It was very difficult, to be honest, because a foreigner or a girl had never really gone into trying to rent a house. Usually you either live in the family compound, if you’re an Indian girl or girl-marries-man and moves into their family compound. So I kind of broke a lot of the rules.”
Zaetta said she would love to do more Bollywood work.
“Absolutely I would… I can’t wait to get back over there now that all the Covid has settled down, take (my daughters) and do some more films.”
Do not attempt at home.
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